


Brace Face

by CastielFollowMe



Series: Single Dad Shiro Verse [71]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Braces, Bullying, Gen, Insecurity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-09
Updated: 2017-04-09
Packaged: 2018-10-16 16:47:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10575411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CastielFollowMe/pseuds/CastielFollowMe
Summary: Keith got braces and isn't exactly happy about it. His friends joke about it, but is it really that bad?





	

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: "Hey I'm not sure you got my previous ask since tumblr has a tendency to eat them... but would you write keith having to get braces and being really pissed about it and how shiro deals with him for your single dad shiro AU? Thank you!"

“Keith, what do you want for lunch?”

              “…”

              “Keith? Oh come on now, you can’t ignore me forever.”

              “…”

              “Seriously, the silent treatment?”

              “..”

              “Keith.”

              Shiro sighed heavily and eventually turned around so that he could take a look at his son, who would no doubt be pouting. Sure enough, Keith was pouting with his arms folded over his chest and bottom lip jutting out. It was quite adorable really, on the twelve-year-old. Though, the situation was very serious and Shiro knew better than to laugh at Keith. Keith was fragile in moments like this and laughter would only make matters worse.

              Still, Keith was adorable.

              “Come on now Keith, they aren’t even that bad.” Shiro tried to comfort Keith who could only glare at Shiro. He pressed his lips together in attempts to close his mouth even more than possible. Shiro sighed.

              “You look good in them; better than the kids in all those teeny-bobby movies.” Shiro tried again as he continued to absently pack Keith’s lunch. Keith’s glare sharped and Shiro could almost feel the tension slice through him. He was slightly impressed by Keith’s looks – apparently, he was improving every day. He still needed some work in making them look more intimidating, but he was surely improving.

              “Come on Keith. Braces aren’t that bad.” Shiro said and Keith scowled in his seat.

              “Then why don’t you get them?” Keith finally grumbled and Shiro almost cheered in victory. Point one for Dad Shiro. He saw a sliver of the red braces on Keith’s teeth, before the pre-teen tried to hide them again.

              “That’s because your grandmother had perfect teeth and so did I.” Shiro said and flashed Keith his million dollar smile that made all the boys and girls swoon. Keith sank lower in his seat, pouting again and mumbled to himself.

              “Grandpa cursed me.”

              “Unfortunately.” Shiro nodded in agreement while Keith actually tried to hiss at him. Ignoring the gesture, Shiro packed Keith’s lunchbox into his backpack before handing it to the young boy. “Alright, it’s time for school. Up you go. I already let you go home early yesterday so you’re not missing another day.”

              “Dad no. There’s no way I can go to school like this.” For a brief second, Shiro watched as a flash of hesitation and panic flew across Keith’s face before being replaced with anger. However, he stood up and followed Shiro out the door, all while continuing to argue. “Lance is going to make fun of me and Hunk is gonna laugh and Pidge too!”

              “They will not. Friends don’t laugh.” Shiro murmured quietly while locking the front door. “Your friends will be very supportive, trust me. Lots of kids get braces these days anyway, so it’s not like you’re going to stand out.” Shiro pointed out, causing Keith to sigh dramatically.

x.V.x

              Kids did in fact notice Keith’s braces.

              Pretty much every kid in the school.

              After all, it wasn’t every day that the “weird” kid who talked to himself sometimes and chewed on everything, came to school in _braces._ Bright red braces. Plus, Lance totally made fun of him, the second he caught of glimpse of those shiny red braces on little Keith’s teeth. Which of course, made Hunk laugh at Lance’s stupid jokes and Pidge laughed because why wouldn’t they? Hunk tried to apologize when Keith walked away but he couldn’t stop giggling.

              Unfortunately, thanks to Lance’s big mouth, _everyone_ had heard about Keith’s braces. Which meant more amo for picking on Keith. Keith was no stranger to bullying at school. He knew a lot of other kids didn’t understand why he did the things he did or was the way he was. Keith always felt blessed that despite growing up, Lance, Hunk and Pidge never once treated him any different despite being autistic. Normally, Keith didn’t care but it was hard to ignore when kids were laughing at him behind his back and tapping pictures of buck-tooth horses to his locker.

              Keith sighed when another kid asked if Keith’s mouth was bleeding – oh wait, those are just your _bright_ red nerd braces. He sat hunched in the back of the cafeteria, hoping that he could simply ignore everyone and that he could eat his lunch in peace.

              Lance, Hunk and Pidge hadn’t been able to spot Keith from where he was hiding in the cafeteria. Slowly, Keith unzipped his lunchbox and hoped for a good time. That is until he opened up his lunchbox all the way.

_Was this a joke? Was dad trying to make a joke?_

              Keith stared in dismay at his packed lunch, staring at a _hard_ apple, a bag of crunchy chips, some pretzels and a sandwich on toasted bread. The pain in Keith’s mouth from his braces intensified while his stomach grumbled pathetically. _Can I even try to eat this?_ Keith stared mournfully at his lunch before opening his water. _At least I won’t be thirsty._

              He winced at he tried to bit into the sandwich before spitting it out when a sore spot on his teeth became too much. The same result happened when he tried to eat a few meager chips and pretzels. Keith didn’t even bother with the apple before throwing away his lunch. He ignored the laughter that followed after him before scurrying out of the cafeteria, willing back the tears in his eyes.

x.V.x

              “Was that a _joke_ today?!” Shiro blinked in surprise when Keith shouted at him before he had closed the door to the car. When he looked over, Shiro could see that Keith was actually _furious_ and not being dramatic. Shiro could barely speak before Keith had tapped both sides of his heads and nearly screamed in frustration. “It’s bad enough that I have to wear these _stupid_ things for a year, but you couldn’t even think about how much it hurts when you packed my lunch?! Are you freakin’ kidding me?!” Keith tapped his head again and Shiro put the car in drive, catching on to Keith’s signal.

              “I mean, did you seriously have to pack an _apple?!_ And pretzels? You know how much my mouth hurts!” Keith fumed and Shiro felt his eyes widened. A sickly feeling of guilt clawed at his stomach and his grip on the steering wheel tightened.

              “Oh, my god, Keith I forgot. I’m so sorry.” Shiro groaned and almost banged his forehead onto his steering wheel. He couldn’t believe that he had actually forgotten to think about how much Keith’s mouth hurt – would hurt for the next few days, when he had packed Keith’s lunch this morning. He’d just packed what he would have normally packed, without thinking, and Shiro felt awful.

              “I know! I can’t forget these.” Keith hissed, pointing to the braces along his teeth. _“I_ have to wear them _every day_. I can’t just forget about them like that!” Keith crossed his arms over his chest furiously and glared out the window. Shiro swallowed heavily and sighed, feeling far guiltier that he probably should have. But it was hard for Keith to adjust to sudden and noticeable changes such as having to get braces, and Shiro hadn’t made it any easier for him.

              “You’re right. You can’t just forget about them or pretend they don’t exist.” Shiro sighed when the car came to a stop at a red light. “Keith, I’m so sorry. It’s no excuse, but I’m so sorry that I packed you a lunch that you couldn’t even eat. It was rude of me to not consider how much pain you must be in.”

              Keith felt his stomach churn with guilt at his dad’s apology. He’d been so angry after the atrocious day he’d had a work. At first, Keith wanted nothing more than for his father to apologize for his actions to make Keith feel better, but Keith realized that his dad hadn’t really done anything wrong. Sure, he’d forgotten to pack a soft lunch, but his dad didn’t make him get braces out of spite and to humiliate Keith. Keith’s dad never did anything to hurt Keith, ever.

              “It’s okay. School just sucks.” Keith finally sighed, rubbing his hands along his pants. Shiro glanced over at Keith for a second before returning to the road. “Kids think my braces are a joke. I’m just in a stupid mood.”

              “Are kids making fun of you?” Shiro demanded, and his tone was entirely protective and serious now. Keith snickered at the image of his dad marching to the school. “Do I need to go to your school?” Suddenly, Keith felt guilty. His dad had fought many of the schools in Keith’s past for their treatment of Keith’s diagnosis and each time was a hardship on his dad and him. Keith didn’t want his dad to be under any more stress than necessary.

              “Um, some kids are just making jokes. Like Lance. You know me, I get real hotheaded and annoyed.” Keith rubbed at his jeans nervously and bit his lip. Since he was watching the road, Shiro didn’t notice Keith’s posture and nodded before relaxing.

              “Well, hopefully they’ll stop after today. Jokes get boring after a while.” Shiro smiled and Keith forced himself to smile despite the sick feeling in his stomach.

              “Yeah. Knowing Lance, he’ll probably be joking about some made-up girl he saved this week.”

x.V.x

              _I’m sorry about the other day. I’m hoping some extra pudding will make up for it. Dad._

Keith couldn’t fight the smile even if he wanted to when he opened up his lunch the next day. Instead of the awful lunch yesterday, today’s lunch had two cups of Keith’s favorite Jell-o, _two_ cups of chocolate pudding. Some watermelon and a cup of his dad’s homemade soup. Lance caught sight of the grin on Keith’s face and peeked over into his lunch box before his jaw dropped.

              “That’s adorable, but your dad packed a seriously awesome lunch!” Lance exclaimed and Pidge and Hunk both looked in to investigate.

              “Whoa. Can I trade you a pudding cup?” Hunk asked and Pidge nodded eagerly before scavenging their own lunch to look for something to trade.

              “Nuh-uh.” Keith stuck his tongue out, red braces poking out. “This is my lunch because my mouth hurts.”

              “Dude, maybe I need to get someone to punch me in the mouth so my mama can pack me a goodie pack.” Lance grumbled bitterly and bit into what was supposed to be pizza, but really it could be anything. After all, the cafeteria served sketchy stuff sometimes. Hunk and Pidge grumbled playfully but backed off, allowing Keith to eat his lunch in peace.

              However, just as Keith was about to dive into his second pudding cup, his jaw exploded with pain when he felt something hard and _rubber_ slam into his face. Instantly, Keith dropped his food and grabbed his jaw. His nerves were tingling with pain, since his mouth was still sore from the braces. Keith felt tears due to pain begin to burn in his eyes, just as several kids started laughing. Keith barely noticed when Hunk, Pidge and Lance shot out of their seats.

              “Hey! Why did you just do that?!” Pidge snarled, hands clenched at their sides in fists as the three of them stared down the group of guys who had shot a rubber band at their friend.

              “Wanted to see how much it would hurt.” One kid laughed causing his whole table to join him.

              “Well, let’s see how much this will hurt!” Lance threatened darkly and rolled up his sleeves. However, Hunk snatched his fist at the last second and pulled it back, while simultaneously checking to see if Keith was okay. “I’ll knock two cents into your stupid, tiny brain, you _assholes.”_

              “Lance!” Hunk whispered hotly and Pidge beamed.

              “Whatever. Don’t know why you defend that loser.” The other kid snorted and his goonies laughed again.

              “Hey! That’s our friend you’re talking about!” Pidge hissed. “Our _best_ friend, whose face is much more appealing than yours will ever be _without_ braces.” The kid frowned at Pidge and his goonies all “ooooohed.”

              “Lemme at him, Hunk.” Lance growled darkly but Hunk easily held him back as he looked at Keith’s cheek.

              “Are you okay?” Hunk asked when Keith wiped his eyes before anyone could see. Just as Keith was about to speak, he flinched back when _another_ rubber band hit his mouth. Hunk recoiled sharply and let go of Lance, who stormed towards the table of laughing kids with Pidge hot on his tail. A dark look settled over Hunk and he turned his full attention to the laughing kids. There was a look in his eyes, almost like that of a soldier, who was on his way to war and it made the lunch room’s atmosphere feel like ice.

              “You jerk.” Hunk said calmly before making his way towards the kid who had shot the rubber bands at Keith. By now, the entire lunch room was deadly silent. Hunk had never intervened before.

              Lance and Pidge each held back a kid as Hunk made his way towards his target. By now, the kid was beginning to sweat and he scrambled to try and get out of his seat. However, Hunk easily caught him by the collar of his shirt before lifting him up into the air, so that his feet didn’t touch the ground. Hunk’s eyes narrowed and he brought the bully’s face right up to his own.

              “You think you can hurt Keith and get away with it?” He said, still in the calm voice he always had. “Well, think again. Nobody hurts our friend.” With that, Hunk grabbed the kid’s shirt with two hands before _dunking_ the kid into a nearby trashcan. Only when the kid was fully submerged in the trash and staring at Hunk with wide eyes did Hunk back away and grab a hold of Keith’s hand. He led the other boy out of the cafeteria with the rest of his lunch in hand.

              “I expect a new chocolate pudding for Keith tomorrow.” Hunk said over his shoulder and exited the lunchroom. Lance and Pidge followed, each pointing to their eyes and back at the bullies with two fingers and then back at their eyes, before they too left the lunchroom.

              No one noticed the small smile on Keith’s lips.

x.V.x

              Shiro had been livid when he heard about what had happened. You can bet on it that he had stormed into the school, furious and raging about the safety of children and zero tolerance for bullying. Needless to say, the next day Keith had _several_ cups of pudding by his locker, his bully was suspended _and_ his mouth didn’t hurt as much anymore.

              Unfortunately, Hunk had gotten detention for throwing a kid in the trash can but Shiro had slid the boy a ten for his work and thanked Hunk for what he did for Keith. Hunk’s smile was enough of thanks for Shiro.

              Keith smiled, braces and all and thought: _Maybe this won’t be too awful._


End file.
